This monday, on the 15th of October, it would be Fela Kutis birthday. Afrofunk asks, what he would sing about nowadays:

No doubt he would include many of the same themes that he addressed during his lifetime: the ongoing exploitation of Africa in general and Nigeria in particular by the wealthy and powerful, from London to Lagos, Washington to Kinshasha; the sorrowful indifference of the governments in industrialized nations to the poverty, inequality and suffering their development models bring to much of the world; the madness of the war in Iraq; the unending massacres in Darfur and Congo.

I think Fela would certainly still be addressing the agonizing persistence of torture and inhumanity in prisons around the world, as a victim of military brutality himself. And I hope he would have turned his immense charisma and musical power toward addressing AIDS prevention and education.

Read the full article on Afrofunk.Photo by Antes Del Atardecer under cc license.